Grandma Lou and Grandpa Ron took me home just as winter was setting in.
Now, keep in mind—I’m a little Southern boy, born and raised where snow is about as common as a unicorn sighting. So when I first saw snow, I had no clue what it was.
I still had a pretty good vocabulary back then—way beyond what most kids could dream of.
One time, years later, I was hanging out with my mom, and she asked me,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ21PkACGala
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtOwTefM2b
And I said, “No.”30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MpBYVami0
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgSjAY0qsn
“Am I Mr. Congeniality?”
That’s when I realized: I had a vocabulary most kids could only dream about.
So, when we finally got to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and Grandpa tried to put me down in the snow, I wasn’t about to let that happen without a fight.
I looked at him and said,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2RWwObJ3Y1
“No! You ain’t puttin’ me down in that bird poop. Ew!”
Snow might have been a mystery, but some things—even at two years old—were crystal clear.
Grandpa looked at me and said,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kfHwzsSKL
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOq2JYAyg7
“Don’t care. Ew! Don’t know what that stuff is.”
But of course, they sat me down in it anyway.
I put my hand on the snow. It was cold. Real cold. Like, why cold?
I ran straight to the back door, shivering and not looking back.
Grandma still has that sign on her back porch that says,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImlgQjBFsF
“Backdoor Guests Are Best.”
Guess even back then, I wasn’t just any guest—I was family.
I guess even back then, I wasn’t exactly a guest.
Now, I’m not going to go over every little “evil” thing I did while living with my grandparents—that would take forever.
But I will tell you this:30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tPqBtHkUQ
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWN4EQH7Pvf
Nope.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2shHTh1uh
I just didn’t want to do chores.
I had gotten this little plastic cow on a leash for Christmas, and I took him with me when I went over to the next-door neighbor’s house.
We called her Grandma Coe—because that’s just what you do in the South.
Grandma Coe looked at me and said,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKO7ouJFZAm
“Darlin’, you can’t stay here. You gotta go back to your Grandma’s.”
So she called ahead, and Grandma Lou was waiting.
When I saw Grandma Lou, spanked me on the botom, and then I said if you spank me you gotta spank cow he 's my cacomplis. if that cow could talk it would have said, snitches get stiches.
The next year, I went to two weeks of preschool summer camp at the Indiana School for the Blind.
Now, I gotta tell you—there was a pool at Sals Park, and I got dunked by an older student.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJuD8c8pYn
Almost drowned twice.
Yeah, not exactly the best swim lessons ever.
But other than that, it was a good time.
After camp, I started kindergarten at Lambert Hall at the Indiana School for the Blind.
My kindergarten teacher was Miss Francoviac.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gePQlHWkV
She was patient and kind—exactly what a little blind kid like me needed to start figuring things out.
So, the first week at school, they had this giant snake pillow in our classroom.
I asked if it had a name.
Miss Warren, our class aide, said,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpM9wJlRoTV
“No, it doesn’t have a name. Why don’t you name it?”
Well, the week before school started, I’d had a Faygo Redpop soda.
And that snake pillow was bright red—just like my soda.
So I named it Redpop.
And just like that, Redpop the snake became part of the class.
Miss Murray was the boss of our house parents.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEa9iFDYyaI
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JY8PiQUfG
She actually played with us kids.
One time, she took us for a ride on this old horse wagon. We were laughing, bouncing around, having the time of our lives.
But after a while, she stopped and said,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBTtF9SO0u2
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVxtviTgpZ
This is a horse buggy, not a Miss Murray buggy!”
We groaned and begged for one more ride, but she just laughed that Miss Murray laugh and helped us all down.
She had that perfect balance: fun like a big sister, firm like a momma, and always looking out for us.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOoqi47hd6
30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavJYSrnJoS
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVR4A9NgHbh
And sometimes... she had jokes.
There was this one time—she kept playing pranks on me.
She had these little toy R2-D2s, you know, the beeping robot from Star Wars.
Well, somehow those things kept moving.
One minute they were on the shelf.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcRqmuIkef
Next minute, they were across the room.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡim1h5w4FtE
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgG91MeIS1V
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFvnODdJrS
Just casual ghost robots, no big deal.
I was half creeped out, half laughing—and 100% convinced that R2-D2 had joined the paranormal.
To this day, I’m still not sure how she pulled it off.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVFWwcHO1X
But one thing’s for sure:30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZS8VQRnKS
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNu25qgqTs
30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LRUJQOU8A
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sE8DUK5s3
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpMKpRkovBx
They didn’t want to throw me into first grade, not when they knew I’d stick out and likely get picked on.
So they suggested I retake kindergarten.
Not because I couldn’t handle the work—30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0e2NmoPI7
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWmGkKkW4p
But at the time, it felt like I got held back for something I couldn’t control.
That was one of the first times I realized that being different—really different—was going to come with some extra hurdles.
But God still had me in His hands, even then.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBscxT2Hw3i
Even when I didn’t understand it.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlS9hgR4DVr
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzEYjQksQg
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOR9jDlE52
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzjJvrZTkj
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENh2mICBs6
They were adventures.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQ3gmJrhZq
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5WHz1u1QR
and in every one of them, God was there.
That summer, I gave my life to Jesus.
I was baptized in a swimming pool, since our church didn’t have a baptismal.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Q62Fzjkd3
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsiBUd7PqDt
and came up with something new—30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiURHFpe9Zu
a heart learning to follow Jesus.30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwh3eo4FyQi
30Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTitrAbezlv
